Obama is turning to an unlikely ally to help him sell a key part of his legacy that's under intense fire

President Barack Obama turned to an unlikely source of
support in his latest efforts to promote the Trans-Pacific
Partnership, a landmark free-trade agreement that has been
shredded along the campaign trail and has tepid support in
Congress.

On Friday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich — once a 2016 Republican
presidential hopeful — was in Washington to meet with Obama and
other leaders, such as former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, to discuss the free-trade agreement
between the US and 11 other Pacific Rim nations.

Standing alongside Reed and White House Press Secretary
Josh Earnest in a surreal White House press briefing at noon,
Kasich laid out why he believes there is "a unique opportunity"
to "put country ahead of politics" regarding TPP, which has been
lambasted by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and
disavowed by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary
Clinton.

"We now have a unique opportunity to again put country ahead of
politics," he said. "I think many people who are in the Congress
of the United States understand what this is all about. They
understand the implications of trade."

Kasich outlined why the TPP is not only something that makes
sense economically, but something that is necessary for the US
geopolitical position in Asia, where both China and Russia are
looking to delegitimize its influence.

"Could you imagine if the United States of America, as I
told one congressman this morning, if we turned our back on those
nations in Asia that are looking to us in a great sense of
partnership to give them the courage and strength to stand
against a rising China?" Kasich asked.

He continued: "So both from an economic point of view and
from a geopolitical point of view, where will we be if we turn
this down? And this is what gives us a unique opportunity in this
city that I've come to not understand. That these kinds of issues
is where politics goes out the window and where the good of
America has to be represented and has to be respected."

The Ohio Republican thanked the president for inviting him
along with the rest of the group to discuss the passing of the
agreement, adding that Obama is "very passionate about the need
to do this" and is "willing to work with those who are both for
and against it."

"And he's willing to really put his shoulder to the wheel,"
Kasich said, later adding, "America can't lock the doors and
lower the blinds and ignore the rest of the world.
We're a force for good. And this TPP will help us not only on the
economic side but will also allow us to continue to be
a strong world leader for good."

Kasich and Barack
Obama.Win McNamee/Getty
Images

Calling on his former colleagues in the House and Senate,
Kasich said members of Congress must take the next few weeks to
think about what it would mean to vote against the agreement, and
what it would mean for the country if they vote yes — a vote he
said will strengthen the country and its alliances around the
world.

Obama recently returned from a second trip to Asia since
May. Both times, TPP was a central item. But back at home,
Obama's major push for TPP has been blasted along the campaign
trail, where it remains a centerpiece issue.

Trump, who has championed a fiercely protectionist platform
during his presidential run, said the passing of TPP would lead
to "A continuing rape of our country" during a July rally.

"That's what it is, too," he said. "It's a harsh word. It's
a rape of our country."

Clinton, who supported the deal while she served as
secretary of state, reversed her position on it during the
primary season, saying there still needs to be work done on it
after both Trump and her top challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders of
Vermont, roiled the agreement. During the Democratic National
Convention in Philadelphia last month, pro-Sanders supporters
waved "No TPP" signs and chanted down various speakers by
shouting "No TPP."

The agreement still needs to be ratified by Congress, which
some say could happen during the lame-duck session of Congress
following the November election.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, who's been a staunch supporter of the
agreement in the past, recently said it had to be renegotiated
while meeting with Wisconsin manufacturing workers in early
August.

"I don't think there's a high likelihood (of the TPP's passage)
right now because ... we don't have the votes to pass it because
people like me have problems with some significant provisions of
it that we believe need to get fixed,"
Ryan said. "But here's the point: We do need trade
agreements. I know a lot of people say just get rid of trade
agreements; don't do trade agreements, and that's terrible.
That's a problem for us."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has also expressed support
for the deal in the past, but he's
recently said the deal might not come up for a vote
until the next president takes office.

On Friday, Kasich also ran an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal outlining his
support, which led him to express his deeper concerns about the
state of politics in the country during the press briefing. He
said the reaction to the op-ed was less than warm.

"I get reactions like, 'Well, you're a Republican. Why are
you supporting something that the president wants?'" he said. "I
mean, we cannot get to the point in America that because a
Democrat wants something that you happen to agree with, you
can't agree with him."

"There's plenty of things I disagree with President Obama
on," he continued. "But the idea that I'm a Republican and
therefore I can't work with Democrats or you're a Democrat and
you can't work with Republicans. How does anybody think that the
issues of debt, social security, medicare, healthcare, any of
these issues, are going to be resolved when we spend all of our
time fighting with one another."

Kasich, a former nine-term congressman from Ohio, said he
doesn't "recognize" Washington DC "much anymore."

"Because now it's become so much about politics," he said.
"And when politics is the order of the day, and partisanship
trumps country, we drift. We drift as a nation. And I'm extremely
concerned about what I see. This is a moment for people to
reverse that."

He also insisted that Congress ignore the rhetoric of the
presidential campaign when it comes to ratifying the trade
agreement.

"In a presidential campaign, and we've seen a lot of them
and every one is defined as the most important one we've had
in our history, but the fact of the matter is that goes on," he
said. "But this vote, by the current Congress of the United
States, is decided by the current makeup of the United States
Senate and the United States House."

"I happen to believe — I don't want to try and project anyone
else's thinking — but this is a very serious matter," he
continued. "And when I see the presidential campaign going on,
it's almost a surreal 21st-century presidential election where if
you and I drafted a movie script about everything that was
happening on both sides with both candidates or even the whole
process, they would've thrown us out of their offices out in
Hollywood because they would've said this is a fiction that goes
beyond any fiction that would be acceptable."

Making note that he's "never been" a strict ideological supporter
of free trade, Kasich said the agreement is "a lot different than
NAFTA" because it involves China and Russia in a geopolitical
sense.

"And we want to pivot to Asia," he said, alluding
to the Obama administration's longtime foreign-policy
agenda. "And we have to do this."

Kasich said that, if the trade agreement is not passed
during the lame-duck session, he's "not convinced" it will happen
afterward.

"There are people both in the House and the Senate that
will play pure politics with our future to take care of
themselves," he said. "And let me also suggest to you: When
that's what you do, when you leave Washington you didn't
accomplish anything other than what? Obstruct? ... At the end of
the day you have to accomplish something."

Kasich.AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

John Weaver, the chief strategist for Kasich's presidential
campaign, told Business Insider that Friday was "just the
beginning" of the governor's involvement in helping get the deal
passed.

"I think we'll work hard to try and pass it," he said. "The
strategy and the tactics, I don't know if they've been developed
yet. And, let's be honest, the subject is hard to punch through
in the next six weeks."

"It's going to be hard," he said of getting the agreement
passed. "But I don't think it's going to be impossible by any
stretch."

Weaver said it will be absolutely necessary for Obama to use a
large amount of his political capital to get the deal through. If
not, "it's not going to pass."

"We have a carnival barker as a nominee on our side, and
Secretary Clinton has been pushed, unfortunately, she allowed
herself to be pushed by Bernie Sanders on the other," Weaver
said. "If the president will actually commit to working hard for
this, because it's not going to pass if he's not willing to use
political capital, and he now has a pretty high favorable rating
as he's getting ready to end his term, if he's willing to use
some of that political capital, we're willing to work with him to
get this done."